Can Twitter help with ecological research?

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It turns out Twitter isn’t just for tweeting abuse at newspaper columnists after all. Check out this clever use of hashtags that is helping scientists keep check on the environment.

Over the weekend it appears that Sergei Krupenin, who works for Twitter, went for a hike – as he spotted this on Mt Diablo in California, which was the site of a forest fire in September last year. It appears the people in charge of looking after the mountain have come up with an intriguing way of tracking its recovery.

They’ve set up a few different sign posts like the one below featuring a bracket in which hikers can mount their smartphones and snap a photo. Participants are then asked to tweet their photo using the #morganfire hashtag, so that Nerds for Nature can find them.